1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printer having therein a conveyor belt for conveying a print medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-2000-272110 discloses a fixed-line head inkjet printer in which a recording paper is conveyed by using a conveyor belt stretched between two rollers. In the inkjet printer, ink is ejected toward the outer circumferential surface of the conveyor belt in ink preliminary ejection, so-called flushing, which is carried out for maintaining good ink ejection performance. The ink ejected onto the conveyor belt by flushing is absorbed by a cleaning roller and thereby removed from the conveyor belt. In the inkjet printer used is an endless conveyor belt the whole outer circumferential surface of which is even. Thus, the area to which ink is to be ejected by flushing need not be restricted to a specific area on the outer circumferential surface of the belt. Ink may be ejected by flushing to any area being covered with no recording paper. This can shorten the total time required for flushing operations. However, ink adhering to the conveyor belt is hard to be completely removed with such a cleaning roller. Therefore, when a recording paper is put on the outer circumferential surface of the belt in an area to which ink has been ejected by flushing, the recording paper may be dirtied by transfer of ink. Evenness of the outer circumferential surface of the belt may cause an increase in the quantity of ink transferred from the conveyor belt to the recording paper. This is for the following reason. On such an even outer circumferential surface of the belt, ink having been ejected onto the belt is apt to spread over a broad area. As a result, a large quantity of ink that can not be removed with a cleaning roller is left on the conveyor belt.
JP-A-2001-287377 discloses a fixed-line head inkjet printer having therein a conveyor belt having an opening. In this inkjet printer, ink is ejected by flushing toward a capping member provided separately from the conveyor belt through the opening. Thus, the ink can not adhere to the outer circumferential surface of the belt. This prevents a recording paper from being dirtied by transfer of ink from the conveyor belt.
However, provision of such an opening in the conveyor belt may cause variation of conveyance speed of a recording paper being conveyed by the conveyor belt when the opening passes on a roller. This may bring about deterioration of print quality.